This video, by art director Jopsu Ramu from Musuta Ltd. and artist Shun Kawakami, blows me away it’s simple and so beautiful. – Jon

Urban Abstract from Musuta on Vimeo.

Art Director Jopsu Ramu from Musuta Ltd. (a multidisciplinary design agency based in Helsinki & Tokyo) has created together with Shun Kawakami (artless Inc) an artist and designer from Tokyo – a piece titled Urban Abstract. This digital art piece is being shown as the November break bumpers on one of the biggest commercial TV channels in Finland: TV Nelonen.

Urban Abstract -piece was born in Tokyo during 2009. It consists of 40 X five second clips or it can be viewed as a one 200 second journey.

Urban Abstract is a first piece created in collaboration with Ramu and Kawakami. The artists have plans for new pieces and are currently looking for interesting projects to work on and to continue this Helsinki – Tokyo collaboration.

The website urban-abstract.com works as a part of the piece and creates an extra dimension for the clips shown on TV.

URBAN ABSTRACT – About the concept:

Urban Abstract is a journey across urban space that unfolds in forty, 5 second parts. The journey, in one, two and three dimensions, is a bit like abstract surfing in which the original destination is only reached after a number of seemingly random yet linked detours occur. Points , lines, planes and other abstract elements create a journey through an Urban Abstract.
The space between things is as important as intended space, perhaps creating a fourth dimension. Meaningful shapes and purposes occur in this dimension’s reality as well. The concept of negative space has meaning here.
Nature plays a part as well. To be able to understand and differentiate what is urban one has understand what is nature.
The style of the shorts is fluid and, though seemingly random, stream into a cohesive whole. Perhaps watching them in a different order would be more like seeing the same journey from another point of view. The sound world is also very important — movement in space is sensed even if watching the shorts with eyes closed. Sounds overlap, fade, come and go.
Architectural, abstract, someway minimalist and abstract with a touch of humanity.
This feeling is reached through mixing techniques such as vectors , hand drawn lines and painting.
Urban Abstract was realized in Tokyo by a team of artists, designers and animators from Finland and Japan. Urban Abstract was created by Jopsu Ramu from Musuta Ltd, a concept, art & design -studio based in Tokyo and Helsinki.